08 WRX Sedan Vs. 05 Mazda RX8

[MTM Motorsports]

So my co-worker who recently traded in his F150 went out and bought an 05 RX8 with manual transmission. He has been bragging about how fast his car is and how cool it is ever since he purchased it. Don't get me wrong, the car looks pretty cool! Well I also owned a truck (05 Tacoma) and I too wanted to trade it in for something a little more economical, sporty, etc. etc. I ended up buying the 08 WRX Sedan with the 2.5 liter turbo. After several weeks during my break in period, Chris my co-worker kept bragging about his 0-60 times and 1/4 mile times. So today after work I decided to stretch my cars legs. Chris was behind me on the on ramp and I laid into it at about 20 in 2nd and it was pulling hard. By the time I hit 80 I thought it was time to slow down a little. We stopped at the gas station and filled up both cars. I averaged 25.6 miles per gallon that tank. Pretty good! After we left the gas station we were stopped at a light on a 4 lane road and it was time to put Chris in his place. I took the traction control off because I have had the engine de-cellerate the car in a 1st to 2nd shift before. I told Chris I hope I don't miss a shift and than we waited for the green. When the green light came on, I was on the skinny pedal. By the time I hit 3rd gear I was 1 1/2 car lengths in front of Chris and still pulling away...after that I slowed down so we wouldn't attract any unwanted attention. Chris had a little wheel spin off the line, but not much. I wonder how bad I would have smoked him had I spooled the turbo up to 4000 rpms and launched.
NEEDLESS TO SAY THE 08 WRX SEDAN OWNED THE 05 RX8

[Pavia]

Good kill!

[ElBartoRex]

nice kill

RX-8s are not 'fast' my any means, I'm sure any decent driver in a WRX would take one to school.

[EJ257]

nice kill

RX-8s are not 'fast' my any means, I'm sure any decent driver in a WRX would take one to school.

+1

They're not fast in a straight line, but they're like the Miata in that if you catch one in a series of twisties, you may get put in your place if you're on stock suspension

[John M]

The RX8, driven well, will run a mid-low 15 at around 92 mph. I've seen YouTube videos of people running 16.0 and slower so driver is important, especially since they need a 6k+ rpm launch for best results. MotorTrend got a 14.5 out of one but I've never seen it in person. I've destroyed the few that have tried me. 159 torque only gets you so far.

If that guy had owned something other than an F150 he wouldn't think that was fast. Even my quad cab 4x4 Dodge runs in the 15s. Zippy, sporty, good handling, but not remotely quick.

[BrianH]

bully

[TurnWRX]

tell him that your car gets better gas mileage as well lol

[Greg G.]

tell him that your car gets better gas mileage as well lol

gas mileage....oil mileage too

[mjboudreaux77]

When you "turn off" your traction control - is that essentially making it the same as my 07 WRX?

[Black Beauty]

I traded an '04 RX8 for the WRX. They have horrible wheel hop and you've got to do a clutch dump at 4K or more to get a decent hole shot. They're quick and handle like crazy, but the rex was much quicker and wrapped up in a more stealthy package. My best mileage ever in the RX8 was around 21-22. Mine was a M6, which had 238 hp instead of the anemic 200 or so the auto had.

[MTM Motorsports]

When you "turn off" your traction control - is that essentially making it the same as my 07 WRX?

Honestly, I have no idea.

[MTM Motorsports]

+1

They're not fast in a straight line, but they're like the Miata in that if you catch one in a series of twisties, you may get put in your place if you're on stock suspension

I wonder who would have better times at an autocross event? I guess I will have to convince Chris to attend an event.

[bluej20]

I test Drove one ... just for the hell of it.

+1 on the wheel hop in the rear. And i think my 08 Rabbit has more torque than hell.. my lug nuts are torqued higher than what that engine puts out...

Plus compard to my old rex id walk all over the rx8 below 80-90 but above that it would be a diffrent story.

And if the race went to a track / cornering contest ... the rex would get owned

(a wrx ... not STi)

[Pavia]

And if the race went to a track / cornering contest ... the rex would get owned

(a STOCK wrx ... not STi)

fixed for ya. I'd match my modded WRX against most cars out there in the suspension.

[RollTideRex]

I wonder who would have better times at an autocross event? I guess I will have to convince Chris to attend an event.

RX-8's are in BStock, WRX's are in DStock. RX-8's do really well in autocross. There's a guy in the region I race in that posted the 3rd fastest PAX time (7th fastest RAW time) at the last event. Out of 108 entries. Yeah. By way of comparison, the fastest (RAW) Subie was a modded STi at 14th fastest. Having said that, autocrosses places a lot more emphasis on driver skill, so it's not impossible (or unusual) to beat a "faster" car, if you're good enough.